How To Create A Marketing Calendar (+ 5 Free Templates)

A trading almanac is simply a readying instrumentality that helps marketers style and schedule trading activities, campaigns, and contented to support execution organized and consistent.

Here’s a trading almanac example:

A well-designed trading almanac keeps nan afloat squad connected measurement by intelligibly laying retired each measurement of important trading campaigns.

Marketing calendars too show you who’s responsible for each trading task. And erstwhile each task needs to beryllium completed.

5 Marketing Calendar Templates for Different Marketing Channels

Different types of trading calendars readying and execution for circumstantial trading efforts.

Here are 5 of nan astir communal types of trading calendars (including sample trading almanac templates) to get you started. 

Editorial Calendar

An editorial almanac (also known arsenic a contented calendar) maps retired each nan contented you strategy to create, nan timelines, and nan squad members responsible for each piece.

This keeps your squad connected nan aforesaid page and helps you group contented connected time.

Use this editorial almanac template to coordinate and schedule your content.

This editorial almanac template has nan pursuing elements:

• Actual group date
• Blog position (or draft) owed date
• Blog topic
• Author
• Target keywords
• Target audience
• Offer aliases telephone to action (CTA)

A well-organized societal media almanac helps you support a accordant posting schedule and coordinate contented crossed each your societal media profiles.

It too gives you a clear overview of what you strategy to position and when, truthful you tin spot gaps successful your schedule.

Use this societal media trading almanac template to style contented crossed each your societal channels.

This societal media almanac template includes:

• Which platforms you strategy to group contented connected (Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.)
• Posting dates
• Content titles
• Supporting copy
• Links to ocular assets
• Additional notes

To further streamline societal media scheduling, effort Semrush’s Social Poster.

The tool’s interactive almanac lets you strategy contented for an afloat year. And schedule posts crossed aggregate platforms consecutive incorrect nan tool.

Email Marketing Calendar

An email trading almanac helps you plan, schedule, and style your email campaigns, specified arsenic newsletters, merchandise releases, and promotional offers.

It too shows you really often and erstwhile you strategy to nonstop emails to your lists. So you cognize if you’re contacting your database excessively overmuch aliases excessively little.

Use this email trading almanac template to strategy your campaigns successful 1 organized view. 

This email trading almanac template includes nan following:

• Your planned nonstop dates
• The email topic
• The email’s taxable line
• The email’s assemblage copy 
• Links to images
• CTAs

Marketing Campaign Calendar

A trading tally almanac maps retired nan activities related to your wide trading plan, coordinating different channels and ensuring everything launches astatine nan correct time.

It helps you strategy launches and forestall overloading your assemblage aliases team.

Keep your campaigns organized and measurement each your trading campaigns pinch our free trading tally almanac template.

This trading tally almanac template includes spaces for:

• Your campaign’s commencement and extremity dates
• The circumstantial trading activity
• Your tally name 
• Who nan squad lead is for nan campaign
• What channel(s) your tally will tally on
• Your trading KPIs and goals

Holiday Marketing Calendar

A picnic trading almanac includes cardinal dates and seasonal events that matter to your business and audience, specified arsenic Black Friday, nan back-to-school season, aliases your institution anniversary.

This type of almanac is important for getting seasonal campaigns successful bid bully successful advance. 

Use this vacation trading almanac template to commencement planning.

This picnic almanac template includes spaces for:

• Holiday names and dates
• Campaign message
• Marketing channels 
• Budget 

How to Build Your Marketing Calendar from Scratch

Here’s really to build a trading almanac that meets your needs and goals. 

1. Choose a Tool to Build Your Marketing Calendar

Choose a instrumentality to build your almanac based connected your company’s needs.

For example, you tin build your trading almanac quickly and easy connected Google Sheets for free. Especially if you usage 1 of our templates.

But devices for illustration Asana and ClickUp relationship overmuch precocious features for illustration notifications, task tracking, and automated workflows.

When choosing a instrumentality to usage for your calendar, inquire yourself nan following:

• What is my budget?
• Is nan instrumentality easy to usage and navigate?
• Will users get notified astir almanac changes?
• Does it merge pinch our different devices and platforms?
• Will it amended squad relationship and organization?

You whitethorn too find to prioritize devices that personification useful features, specified as:

• Color coding to quickly spot different types of content
• Custom tags to group related items
• Multiple views (e.g., daily, weekly, and monthly)
• Status updates to measurement progress
• Filters to quickly find circumstantial channels aliases campaigns

2. Select Your Primary Marketing Channels and Formats

Select your superior trading channels and contented formats to guarantee you cognize really to customize your trading calendar.

For example, if you want to attraction dense connected societal media, past create a societal media almanac alternatively of an overarching trading tally calendar.

Some channels and formats you mightiness incorporated include:

• Your blog
• Your societal media profiles
• Email
• Paid societal media and hunt ads
• Events and webinars

3. Build Your Calendar’s Basic Structure and Add Tasks

The adjacent measurement is to spot basal elements for hunt and organizing your trading activities.

Start pinch nan pursuing elements:

• Campaign schedules: When each trading activity starts and ends
• Tasks and ownership: Who's doing what
• Marketing channels: Where nan trading activity is taking place
• Key dates: Important events for illustration launches, promotions, and holidays
• Resources: How overmuch money and what assets you petition for each campaign

You tin adhd overmuch elements later based connected your circumstantial needs.

Next, make judge each tally is room down into each related task that’s needed for completion. Including reviews and approvals. 

For example, coming is simply a imaginable timeline for creating a blog post:

• Three days for nan writer to research, plan, and write
• Two days for editorial review
• One clip for revisions from nan writer
• One clip for image creation
• One clip for past review

Your timelines will alteration based connected contented type and squad size, but having standards for illustration this helps support projects moving smoothly.

4. Assign Ownership 

Every task connected your trading almanac needs a clear proprietor who will complete their accusation and locomotion nan task to nan adjacent phase.

For example, successful nan process of creating a blog post, delegate a clear proprietor for nan pursuing tasks:

• Writing nan blog post
• Editing nan content
• Handling revisions
• Creating nan images
• Conducting a past review
• Publishing nan content

5. Keep Your Marketing Calendar Updated 

Keep your trading almanac updated to guarantee it serves arsenic nan guidelines of truth for each trading efforts.

To do that, petition that squad members group tasks complete arsenic soon arsenic they’re finished.

This is an illustration of a workflow for keeping your almanac up-to-date:

• Writers nonstop completed drafts to nan editing squad by sharing a archive nexus successful nan almanac and notifying nan editors
• Editors nonstop edited drafts backmost to nan writers by checking a instrumentality successful nan almanac and notifying writers
• Writers usage revisions, banal a caller nexus (if needed), and notify nan past reviewers
• Final reviewers nonstop nan drafts to nan publishing queue by checking a instrumentality successful nan almanac and notifying nan publisher
• The diligent pushes nan contented unrecorded and marks it arsenic published successful nan calendar

This workflow keeps everyone connected nan aforesaid page and informed astir nan position of each project.

This transparency helps teams spot bottlenecks quickly and group timelines if needed. 

Streamline Marketing Activities pinch an Organized Calendar

A trading almanac helps you execute your strategy overmuch efficaciously and reduces nan likelihood of making mistakes.

So, download 1 of nan free templates above. And make judge you personification nan devices you petition to execute each project.

For example, SEO devices that tin thief you summation visibility successful hunt results. 

A free Semrush proceedings gives you tons of options, including nan Keyword Magic Tool (to find position your assemblage enters successful Google) and Position Tracking (to spot wherever your contented appears successful hunt results)/